What was the Great Awakening? It’s not Monday morning; it was a revival movement 200 years after the Reformation Movement. The first and second Great awakening was primarily focused in America and England - (The Restoration Movement came out of this movement.) In 1801 the Cane Ridge Revival was labeled “the most important religious gathering in all of American history.”
It was said that 20,000 people attended the tent meeting; and that meeting helped to usher in a new way of looking at a biblical concept of salvation. With a lot of heightened emotional experiences and the sheer popularity of the event, it seemed there need to be a better way to handle all of the responses to the gospel message. The answer: the “anxious seat,” which was another form of the “Mourner’s bench.” This was a place up front (or off to the side) where you could go to get more
information about how to respond to the message. Some have suggested it was designed to make this process more efficient, but it was through this event that gave birth to the idea of the “sinner’s prayer.”
Today, many people have asked where that is found in Scripture. The main problem is… it’s not in there! But how could such a major religious concept that many practice in order to be saved, not even be in the Bible?
Throughout the teachings of the Second Great Awakening, the sinner’s prayer was gaining popularity; and Romans 10 was the passage often used for support – “They [those who trust in Christ] have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. For ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”
The previous verses are used to explain what that means: “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10)
But is that really describing a “sinner’s prayer”? Is this what Paul had in mind when he wrote Romans? Did Paul imagine that two millennia after he wrote this letter that people all over the globe would be told that if they sincerely asked Jesus in their hearts, they can be assured of being saved because of the promise in Romans 10:13?
The word “call” is Epikaleomai in koine Greek, and it means to "appeal to." The Israelites appealed to God in Egypt, but that pleading didn’t save them, but God heard it. God heard the prayers of Cornelius, but those prayers didn’t save him, Peter was sent to show him what he needed to do. As believers we should do what Paul instructed the Ephesians to do in Ephesians 5:17, “Don’t be foolish but understand the will of the Lord.”
Sunday, November 26, 2017
Sunday, November 19, 2017
Thankgiving
What should be different about a Christian than other people without a hope in Christ’s promises? I’m sure we could list many attributes that set us apart from the world, but at least during this time of year one characteristic should come to our minds–Gratitude. At the heart of what many celebrate this week is gratitude for family, friends, material blessings, freedom, and of course spiritual blessings. All of these things we realize have shaped our life and made us what we know we need to be and hopefully want to be.
I’m reminded of a passage that may not seem like a Thanksgiving Day sort of passage, but it addresses the great insight into a grateful-hearted person. In Hebrews 12:12-13, “Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”
People have been placed in our lives that have given us the opportunity to praise God, but Satan tries to convince us not to see the blessings in our circumstances–good or bad. But it’s easy to ask, “Where’s a blessing in what I’m going through?” Perhaps like Job, or Daniel, or Joseph, or Jesus. We see them and many others who endured awful things and yet there was something about their situation that still brought God glory.
What about your story? Have people been more compelled to express their gratitude in their life by watching yours? How was Paul able to say in Romans 8:37-39, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, ‘for Your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Perhaps his appreciation for God was best seen through the trials of his life. The difficulties that led him to a point in his life where he could reflect on the presence of God all along. How about us? Can we recognize how God has worked through the situations, good or bad, in our life that should lend themselves to our attitude of thanks?
Every challenge, every discipline, every loss may define some of the moments where we modeled the strongest faith. Consider why God disciplines us. It was through those events that brought Israel to their knees and made them grateful that their God was always there. Because it’s in the difficult times that we feel we need God more. We feel more helpless, weaker, and simply scared, yet God enjoys demonstrating His love and power towards us.
Discipline prepares us to wait for Him. Without it, we tend to take the “easy way” out that actually leads to more pain, suffering, or disappointment. This Thanksgiving, thank God for the challenging things that have contributed to your faith.
I’m reminded of a passage that may not seem like a Thanksgiving Day sort of passage, but it addresses the great insight into a grateful-hearted person. In Hebrews 12:12-13, “Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”
People have been placed in our lives that have given us the opportunity to praise God, but Satan tries to convince us not to see the blessings in our circumstances–good or bad. But it’s easy to ask, “Where’s a blessing in what I’m going through?” Perhaps like Job, or Daniel, or Joseph, or Jesus. We see them and many others who endured awful things and yet there was something about their situation that still brought God glory.
What about your story? Have people been more compelled to express their gratitude in their life by watching yours? How was Paul able to say in Romans 8:37-39, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, ‘for Your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Perhaps his appreciation for God was best seen through the trials of his life. The difficulties that led him to a point in his life where he could reflect on the presence of God all along. How about us? Can we recognize how God has worked through the situations, good or bad, in our life that should lend themselves to our attitude of thanks?
Every challenge, every discipline, every loss may define some of the moments where we modeled the strongest faith. Consider why God disciplines us. It was through those events that brought Israel to their knees and made them grateful that their God was always there. Because it’s in the difficult times that we feel we need God more. We feel more helpless, weaker, and simply scared, yet God enjoys demonstrating His love and power towards us.
Discipline prepares us to wait for Him. Without it, we tend to take the “easy way” out that actually leads to more pain, suffering, or disappointment. This Thanksgiving, thank God for the challenging things that have contributed to your faith.
Sunday, November 12, 2017
Are You Wise Enough?
Who were the prophets of the Old Testament speaking to? Our knee-jerk reaction may be that they were speaking to the Israelites, which is true. But much like Jesus’ parables there were usually deeper levels to what was spoken.
1 Peter 1:10-12, “This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when He told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and His great glory afterward. They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you…”
Paul reminded us of the same thing in Romans 15:4, “Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.”
In other words, we need to be able to learn from the past to help guide our future. This has been a common theme throughout Scriptures, and really throughout our own lives. Therefore, there is a constant need for us to be able to gain the wisdom revealed in how God dealt with those He was leading to the Promised Land, or those He reprimanded for their unfaithfulness, or many other issues.
In the New Testament, Jude, the half-brother of Jesus, wrote a letter to some churches to encourage, or maybe warn, them to do just that. He had planned to write about the joy and hope of salvation, but realized they had become sidetracked. In his letter, he addresses the immorality that they were welcoming into their lives, but it’s how he does it that I want to highlight.
He compares the false teaching they were entertaining to that same kind of teaching that led the Israel into rebellion (Numbers 14), and he describes the outcome. Then he continues with the angels who violated God’s will. Although this is a controversial issue to some, many scholars believe this is what was being described in Genesis 6 prior to the flood of judgment. He moves on to Sodom, and the perversions that they were engaging in (Genesis 19). The point is that he’s bringing up stories that most Hebrew people would have been familiar with--stories that we can now see their purpose when looked at through the lens of Christian living. He also brings up other (non-canonized) books like 1 Enoch 1:9 that describes a prophecy from Enoch, who lived prior to the flood. Followed by a reminder about Cain (Genesis 4), Balaam (Numbers 22-25), Korah (Numbers 16), Selfish Shepherds (leaders) in Ezekiel 34:2, Chaotic waves (unstable people) in Isaiah 57:20.
The past is constantly pointing us towards the right path that leads away from sin and death. We have to be wise enough to accept it and listen to it. What Jude does in his letter Peter did in his 2 Peter 2:1-3, John did in 1 John 4:1-3, Paul did in 2 Timothy 3:1-9, and Jesus did in Matthew 7:15-19. Pray that we will be wise enough and obedient enough to learn from the mistakes from the past instead of being doomed to repeat their same judgment for our stubbornness.
1 Peter 1:10-12, “This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when He told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and His great glory afterward. They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you…”
Paul reminded us of the same thing in Romans 15:4, “Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.”
In other words, we need to be able to learn from the past to help guide our future. This has been a common theme throughout Scriptures, and really throughout our own lives. Therefore, there is a constant need for us to be able to gain the wisdom revealed in how God dealt with those He was leading to the Promised Land, or those He reprimanded for their unfaithfulness, or many other issues.
In the New Testament, Jude, the half-brother of Jesus, wrote a letter to some churches to encourage, or maybe warn, them to do just that. He had planned to write about the joy and hope of salvation, but realized they had become sidetracked. In his letter, he addresses the immorality that they were welcoming into their lives, but it’s how he does it that I want to highlight.
He compares the false teaching they were entertaining to that same kind of teaching that led the Israel into rebellion (Numbers 14), and he describes the outcome. Then he continues with the angels who violated God’s will. Although this is a controversial issue to some, many scholars believe this is what was being described in Genesis 6 prior to the flood of judgment. He moves on to Sodom, and the perversions that they were engaging in (Genesis 19). The point is that he’s bringing up stories that most Hebrew people would have been familiar with--stories that we can now see their purpose when looked at through the lens of Christian living. He also brings up other (non-canonized) books like 1 Enoch 1:9 that describes a prophecy from Enoch, who lived prior to the flood. Followed by a reminder about Cain (Genesis 4), Balaam (Numbers 22-25), Korah (Numbers 16), Selfish Shepherds (leaders) in Ezekiel 34:2, Chaotic waves (unstable people) in Isaiah 57:20.
The past is constantly pointing us towards the right path that leads away from sin and death. We have to be wise enough to accept it and listen to it. What Jude does in his letter Peter did in his 2 Peter 2:1-3, John did in 1 John 4:1-3, Paul did in 2 Timothy 3:1-9, and Jesus did in Matthew 7:15-19. Pray that we will be wise enough and obedient enough to learn from the mistakes from the past instead of being doomed to repeat their same judgment for our stubbornness.